Overview

About Time is a family-friendly trivia board game where teams compete to guess the year that historical events occurred. Players move around a circular board toward the center, collecting tokens by making the closest guess. The game combines historical knowledge with a press-your-luck element through Time cards that provide extra clues. Designed for 2-4 players or teams, ages 7 and up.

Components

• Game board (circular track leading to a center space)
• Question cards in a card holder (Classic and Expert sets available)
• Character tokens (one per team)
• Time cards (provide extra clues)
• Scoring tokens (collected by winning rounds)
• Timeline Answer Sheets (for writing guesses)
• Sand timer (30 seconds)
• Dice

Setup

1. Place the board in the center of the table.
2. Each team selects a character token and places it at the start of the board.
3. Shuffle question cards and place them in the card holder.
4. Each team receives 4 Time cards.
5. Place scoring tokens in a central pot.
6. Give each team a Timeline Answer Sheet and pencil.
7. The youngest player goes first.

Turn Structure

Each round proceeds as follows:

1. Roll and move: The active team (or the youngest player on the first turn) rolls the dice and moves their character onto the board.
2. Read question: The active team reads aloud a question from the card holder matching the color of the space they landed on. Questions ask “In what year did [historical event] happen?”
3. All teams guess: Every team (not just the active team) has 30 seconds (timed by the sand timer) to secretly write their year guess on their Timeline Answer Sheet. Exception: Duels involve only specific teams.
4. Reveal answers: All teams reveal their guesses simultaneously.
5. Determine winner: The team whose guess is closest to the correct year wins the round.
6. Collect token: The winning team takes a scoring token from the pot. If a team guesses the exact year, they receive double tokens.
7. Movement: Only the winning team rolls the dice and moves on the board.

Actions

Question Categories

Questions span six categories, each associated with a board color:

• Heroes & Villains
• The Arts
• Everyday Life
• Innovation
• Word & Thought
• State & Nation

Time Cards

• Before answers are revealed, any team may shout “Time!” to play a Time card.
• The first team to shout “Time!” uses their card to gain an extra clue about the question.
• Players start with 4 Time cards and collect more as they move around the board.
• Only the first team to shout “Time!” gets the benefit each round.

Board Events

While moving around the board, teams may land on special spaces representing bad events from history (e.g., plague, highwaymen). These encounters have various negative effects on the team’s progress or tokens.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The game ends when a team reaches the center of the board AND wins the round played from the center. However, the overall winner is determined by tokens:

• The team with the most scoring tokens wins the game, regardless of board position.
• Reaching the center first is an advantage (it triggers the endgame), but accumulating tokens throughout the game is what determines the winner.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Every team plays every round (except Duels), ensuring constant engagement for all players.
• Only winners move: If you do not win the round, your token stays where it is.
• Exact year bonus: Guessing the exact correct year doubles the token reward.
• Duel spaces: Some board spaces trigger Duels where only specific teams compete rather than all teams.
• Time card scarcity: Time cards are limited; use them strategically on questions where you are less confident.

Player Reference

Action	Details
Guess	Write a year within 30 seconds
Win round	Closest guess to correct year
Exact answer	Double tokens awarded
Time card	Shout “Time!” first for an extra clue
Movement	Only round winners roll and move
Win game	Most tokens when a team wins from the center